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an update on the hummingbird garden

On this gray overcast day, the backyard is alive with activity -- the Mockingbird fledglings insisting
that they still need to be fed, the gang of adult and immature male Common
Grackles cruising through with sinister intent, the immature or female (no
full gorget on throat) Ruby-Throated Hummingbird flitting teasingly from
flower to flower as I snap my photographs. I have possibly re-discovered the
crazed dill-munching caterpillar, who -- assuming it's the same one -- found
that potted dill I'd hidden near the tangle of the asparagus plants. The
potted dill was promptly consumed and then, oddly, the caterpillar placed its
chrysalis on an asparagus stalk that was tangled in with the dill.

I dug up these plants from a shady spot behind J.'s house in Folsom last
summer. I didn't know what they were, because they couldn't bloom back
there. Actually, I still don't know what they are, other than orange. The
hummer tried them briefly then went back to the Cardinal Climber.

Here are some updated photographs of the wildflower area. It is a tangle of
green finally tall enough to conceal the air-conditioning unit. Cardinal climber has taken the bait and climbed the feeder, and echinaceas are blooming freely.

I put out another suet cake before I wrote this diary entry, and
the Mockingbirds and the gang of Grackles -- perhaps more than a dozen
of them -- have already discovered it. Of course, the adult Mockers
always shoulder their way to the front of the line but as soon as they
take off to feed their fledglings, the Grackles are all over it, sometimes
even landing on each other in their excitement.

Hold the Presses: As I was posting this entry, I observed a Mississippi Kite cruising over the neighborhood. Whoo hoo. It is never a bad day when you see a kite.

Hummingbird Report: Lots of hummingbird to-ing and fro-ing. Not sure if I'm seeing the same one or different ones. Sometimes the flowers are being used, sometimes the feeders.